Random cute baby pictures.

I wanted to post some fun pictures I took of Ashlyn this week. I've been teaching her how to dance lately and after church on Sunday we were listening to some Halloween music (I know perfect Sunday music) and Ethan was dancing, so we all decided to join in. Zach and I took turns dancing with Ashlyn. She loved it!! The funny thing about this picture is she has Hannah's $20 bill in one of her hands. (we still can't find that money)

Ashlyn had a little bit of a blow out this week. I was too lazy to take her to the bathtub and my kitchen sink was full of dirty dishes (sadly it still is), so I put her in the bathroom sink. It was just the perfect size for her, and she loved seeing herself in the mirror.

Click on this picture to see Ashlyn's little pigtails. See, she does have a little bit of hair.

I bought this witch hat for me to wear this halloween. Ashlyn has been fun wearing it. She is quite the little comedien lately. She is starting to know that she is doing something silly or funny. Putting this hat on is one of the funny things she has been doing lately. She will put it on and then walk around and run into things. Silly baby.

Halloween party

We decided a few years ago to only do big birthday parties for the kids, every other year and on the off year to do something little with one or two friends. This was Hannah's year to do something big. She was deciding between a party at the local roller skating place or to have a Hallween party at home. She has always wanted to have a Halloween party since her birthday is in the month of October.

I let her invite all of her friends and lucky for her only a couple couldn't make it. We had 16 girls at our house on party night. I am so lucky to have great friends who helped me pull this party off. They were such a great help to me. THANK YOU!!

The girls played several games. They first played a hot potatoe game with a couple of squishy skulls. One of the skulls brain squished out and the other skull's eye socket bubbled out blood. They were pretty funny and the girls loved it. After that game, we were still waiting for another girl and the girl's told a ghost story by each girl telling one line of the story. I didn't hear all the stories that they told, but I heard lots of giggles. I love listening to kids laugh!

After the last girl came, they played Mummy Wrap. They were split into teams and competed to see who could come up with the best mummy in a short amount of time. It was pretty cute to see them use their imaginations and get creative. I think that the last game they played was the most fun. It was a spin off on bobbing for apples. Instead of apples we used marshmallows and the girls had to see how many they could suck up with the straw in the time limit. They had so much fun!!
Mark and I made lots of yummy foods for the party. We had a yummy Witches Brew complete with eyeballs and spiders. Rat droppings, bat wings and blood, peanut butter eyeballs, monster toes and bloody fingers. I was surprised and happy that most of the food was gone by the end of the night.




I didnt' get pictures of all of the decorations we had, but it was so much fun!! Hannah had the best night!!

Sorry my pictures are all out of order, I am too lazy to fix them. ;)

A little imperfect quilt...

Before I had Ashlyn, I saw a cute quilt on Flickr. This is my modified version of it. I love patchwork quilts so much!! I forgot though that I can't really cut straight blocks. I cut them the same size but somehow they never match up right when I sew.



I decided I would probably use this quilt in the car this fall/winter. Despite it's imperfections, I still really like it.

Pumpkins from Grandma K.

Grandma Koski brought us a great big pumpkin this weekend. She also had me get the other pumpkins for the kids. They were also really big but not nearly as big as the one Grandma found.
We love pumpkins at our house. We love to eat all things pumpkin and the kids love to carve them (mom and dad, not so much).
We took Ashlyn's picture by the huge pumpkin that Grandma brought. She wasn't too excited about it, but we managed to get a few good shots. Sometimes I call Ashlyn pumpkin and Ethan thinks that's really funny. He always laughs and asks me, "Why you calling her pumpkin?".

Weekend Happenings

We started off our weekend with Hannah opening her birthday presents. I sure am glad that even though she is 11 , she still loves stuffed animals. Especially webkinz.
Who says you have to be older to be a rockstar....here is our baby learning to sing into the microphone at the young age of 10 months old. What a fun new toy!!

Our ward has an annual campfire every year...usually complete with smores. The kids love it and always have a great time.



Zach started chess club about a month ago and competed in his first competition on Saturday. He played 6 matches, he won 3, lost 2 and tied on the other. . He came in 13th place and was so excited to get a medal. It was a long day for him and Mark....but worth it by the look on his face. We were so proud of him! His school also came in 1st in the division he played in.
And last, but certainly not least. We spent much of the weekend listening to General Conference and are beyond excited that a temple was announced for our area. It is always so wonderful to hear the words of our prophet and to feel the love that our Savior has for us. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Happy 11th Birthday to my Hannah girl!

As I was driving home from Wal-Mart tonight (after picking up Hannah's treats she wanted to take to school), I was thinking about my first baby girl. It was a little bit of an emotional drive home. I'll admit that that I was a little teary as I was thinking about how much Hannah is growing up. She is amazing and I am constantly in awe of her awesome personality.

She had me take a picture of her last dinner as a 10 year old tonight. So I thought I would share things about her at age 10.

*always smiling...this is big if you will think about all that she has gone through with her teeth.
*always willing to help me when I need it....especially when it comes to her baby sister
*loves the color turquoise
*loves chocolate unless it's ice cream and then she will pick vanilla...loves most all sweets
*loves to read and can often be found with her nose in a book
*loves to play the computer
*really loves learning and excels at school
*likes to try new things
*loves shopping
*has started playing the clarinet
*loves music
*loves to relax in front of the TV
*says her favorite holidays are Christmas and Halloween
*has the most beautiful blue eyes (like her daddy)
*loves being social and seeing her friends
*loves animals and really wants a pet
*has a testimony of our Savior, Jesus Christ

We love this girl so much and we're so grateful that she has been blessed into our lives. She is a joy and a delight! Love you Hannah girl.

For my sister! Home dec

My fall decor and my revamped seasonal shelf.

Cute bowl from my cute friends for my birthday. Love it!!
My birthday shelf. Please help me decorate it. I don't want seasonal stuff on it. Just normal everyday stuff. Didn't my hubby do a good job hanging it!

New shoes because somebody is walking...

This cute girl of ours started walking about 10 days ago. She started off just taking 2 steps and then 5-6 and now she can walk across the room and into another.
I went to Stride Rite and got her a new pair of shoes because her cute little feet are too fat to fit into regular shoes. I picked out this cute pair for only $30.oo. What a bargain.
I was trying to take a picture of her walking this afternoon and all she wanted me to do was hold her...isn't that a sad face! Following me and crying. Poor thing.
Oh there's my happy girl again!! Love this little sweetheart...she is a blessing to our family.

Seasonal Shelf

So, I got this cute new shelf for my birthday. Only it's not the shelf you see in my picture. I found that one at a garage sale today for just $20. I thought it was a great deal considering how much I paid for the other one. You might be wondering why I have this one up instead of my birthday shelf? Well, it happens to be smaller and it was easier to find a spot for it. I am still contemplating where to put my birthday shelf. While in Nebraska, my sister and I went shopping at this totally adorable store and we found the cute accessories that are on the bottom shelf. They were a gift from my awesome sister. Thanks!!

We also made a fun project with our sis-in-law Traci. Kristi saw this cute FALL saying on one of my favorite Decorating blogs called Cherry's Jubilee. I bet Kristi was wishing she had a little one to chase so she wouldn't have had to do so much of the work. I am grateful she did so much or it would have landed in my unfinished project pile. Ethan like to rearrange them so they don't spell anything. Since he started pre-school he is really into letters and numbers.

Go Big RED!

We made a quick trip to Nebraska this past weekend. Mark has been wanting to take the kids to a Husker football game for awhile now. We weren't able to go to any last season as I was still pregnant and then we had a new baby. We were able to spend the day with my family and had a fabulous time! We all went to Valentino's for lunch.
Valentino's is a really yummy pizza buffet. I don't usually really like buffets but I love this one. They have way more than just pizza too. There was a lady there who was painting faces and making balloon animals, swords, flowers etc.. Most of the kids had "N" painted on their faces and hands to show their love for Nebraska football. Ethan and Xander decided to get Spiderman faces painted on. They were both so afraid to eat anything for fear that they would mess up their faces. I guess we should've had them get painted after we ate.
Mark took Hannah, Zach and Connor to the game. It was Hannah and Zach's first time going to a game. This pictures shows the stadium of RED. Those crazy Nebraskan's, they love their football team. My brother Dan, and nieces Kelsey and Emma were at the game as well. My BIL Troy and my nephew Jameson were there ushering for Boy Scouts. It was fun for my kids to get to go with their cousins.
I guess there is a tradition that when Nebraska gets their first touchdown, everyone let's go of a red balloon. I don't know if you can tell in this picture, but it is of all the red balloons. Hannah lost hers before the first touchdown, so her and Zach shared a balloon.
We had such a great weekend and hated to see it end so soon. I am going to show some of my birthday purchases in another post. My sister, SIL and I also made a fun project that I will share too.

9 months (for 5 more days)

One of these days, I am going to be on the ball, and then I will not have to apologize for always getting things up late (just to myself as I am the only one who reads this blog). This is my cute girl on the day she turned 9 months old. She such a little sweetheart and a joy to our whole family. We are all smitten with her.

9 month facts*

*20lbs 12 oz

*28 inches long

*still wearing 6-12 month clothing. I have started buying bigger clothes but they are still too big for her. She is funny, she has short little legs but long arms.

*crawling everywhere FAST! She also is cruising the furniture FAST!! She is practically running around the couch. She has also taken a step when trying to get from one side of the couch to the other. I still want her to slow down and she wants to start walking.

*loves Cheerios and Gerber puffs. She has tried most baby foods except for meat. I guess I did give her chicken noodle dinner today. We gave her avocado yesterday and she liked it. I have been giving her a little bit more food off of our plates. She loves it.

*has a cute little temper when things don't go her way or you take something away from her.

*likes to eat books...and then crawl away so I can't get it out of her mouth. I also found a gum wrapper in her mouth at church a few weeks ago (ewwwww).

*not the best sleeper., sleeps in my bed all night and no naps in her bed, only in my lap.

*likes this little stuffed Pablo that Ethan has...today she recognized that Pablo was on the TV and she squealed with delight. It was so so cute!!

*can say BALL and likes to play with them

*loves it when we sing Twinkle, twinkle little star to her. It will calm her down if she is upset.

*loves the remote, telephone, computer, cell phone etc...(better than her toys of course)

*can climb up the stairs, on the ottoman (but not sure how to get down), and on the fireplace.

*loves to be outside

*she likes to look out the window by the couch, she always climbs up and moves the curtain out of her way.

*finally grew out of her infant seat and into a bigger carseat.

*doesn't like having her diaper changed or getting her clothes put on her.

*has stranger anxiety...or whatever that's called.

*lays her head down when she is a little shy...she will either lay it on the floor or me when someone is talking to her. She loves the attention though.

*likes to throw her toys down and then see if you will pick it up game.

*is wiggly...sometimes pratically leaping out of my arms

*starting to take her headbands off of her head (wahhhh).

*makes me smile over and over all day long.

I know there are a few more things I want to add. I will when I remember them.